Despite many rumors to the contrary, Ed Werder of ESPN reported Monday that the Dallas Cowboys don’t see Robert Griffin III as a viable backup quarterback to Tony Romo or a good fit in their system. Not surprisingly, Werder also reported that Johnny Manziel’s off-field troubles have caused the Cowboys to move away, despite the fact that he’s a better fit for the offense.
“Not a lot of people in Dallas think he’s a great fit in Jason Garrett’s offense, and I’m told that Scott Linehan, the offensive coordinator, is really not a fan of RGIII’s and doesn’t think he would excel with what the Cowboys would ask him to do,” Werder said on NFL Live (h/t Pro Football Talk).
This isn’t too shocking on either counts.
Manziel is essentially a no-go for any team at this time, given his current legal troubles.
While many might be surprised at the RG3 angle, it makes perfect sense. The dual-threat quarterback from Baylor needs a different type of offense than the one Dallas runs in order to succeed.
One of the things Mike Shanahan did so well that made Griffin III so dangerous in his rookie season was that he moved him around an awful lot on bootlegs. When was the last time you saw Romo do that on a regular basis?
Linehan runs a more traditional style of pro offense where Romo will take the ball from behind center or in the shotgun and work the pocket to find his receivers downfield. The only time Romo runs is when he really has to run.
Contrarily, when you watch tape of Griffin III, if his first or second reads aren’t open, he often got lost and looked to run or got sacked because he wasn’t paying attention to how long he held onto the ball. Some of that was just inexperience, but coming out of Baylor he just never had to stand in the pocket and work through progressions.
So, while RG3 and his family might wish for another tenure in Texas, it’s not likely to happen. Especially when you consider Dallas owns the No. 4 overall pick and could be looking to take one of the top quarterbacks in this draft, rather than take a gamble on a retread.